The Impact of a Telephone Reminiscence Program

NCT ID: NCT05977608

Last Updated: 2025-07-18

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 90 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2023-06-25
• Study Completion Date: 2023-12-31

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to better understand how a telephone reminiscence program impacts reminiscence functions and mental health outcomes in community-dwelling older adults.This study will take 12 weeks to complete and will include approximately 90 study participants. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two telephone reminiscence groups.They will be either assigned to begin a telephone reminiscence program immediately or in 6 weeks. Participants will receive automatic calls three times a week asking the meaningful questions about their lives. At week 1, week 6, and week 12, participants will also be asked to complete assessments via phone, by research assistants using four questionnaires.

Detailed Description

The prevalence of social isolation and loneliness among older adults is a public health problem. It is reported that 25 % of community-dwelling older adults 65 and older are socially isolated while 43 % of older adults 60 and older feel lonely (Cudge et al., 2020). Research has shown that social isolation and loneliness are associated with cardiovascular disease, stroke, depression, dementia, and mortality (Holjlerda, 2016). Loneliness, in particular, has been identified as a potential predictor of mild cognitive impairment (Bundy, et al., 2021; Sutin et al., 2018; Dahlberg, 2021). As a result of the prevalence data, gerontologists and researchers have cited the need for developing, implementing and testing innovative interventions to address this problem. Reminiscence is one example of a cost-effective intervention shown to decrease loneliness and improve mental health and wellness.

STORII is a telephone reminiscence program designed to provide a service that automatically calls older adults three times a week asking them meaningful questions about their lives. The participants have the opportunity to select curated prompts that enable them to record their life stories through the phone. The participants can choose to share them online with their families. Through formative evaluation of the program, the STORII team has noted that their participants to be highly satisfied and highly engaged. As a result of these informal data, it was decided that a more in-depth investigation should be undertaken. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the STORII program on reminiscence functions and mental health outcomes in community-dwelling older adults.

Participants will be invited to join a telephone reminiscence program designed to provide a service that automatically calls older adults three times a week asking them meaningful questions about their lives. Examples of the questions are "What is the best meal you have ever tasted?", "What is one of your proudest moments?", "What is your earliest memory?". Participants can share as much or as little as they would like. They have up to 10 minutes to record the answers and can end the call at any time by hanging up. There will be no operator on the line that can hear or respond. The participants can choose to share their stories online with their families.

All outcome measures will be assessed at baseline (T0), 6-week post-test (T1), and at 12-week follow-up (T2). Participants will complete assessments via phone, by trained research assistants using four questionnaires. Assessments will be completed by research assistants who are not aware of participants' allocation.

Conditions

Mental Health; Loneliness; Social Isolation

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE
• Blinding Strategy: DOUBLE

Study Groups

Group 1

Participants will be asked to participate in the reminiscence program during the first 6 weeks of the study.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Telephone Reminiscence Intervention

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Participants will receive automatic calls three times a week asking their life experiences and personal memories. They can share as much or as little as they would like. They have up to 10 minutes to record their answer and can end the call at any time by hanging up.They will be able to share the stories online with their families if they want.

Group 2

Participants will be asked to participate in the reminiscence program during the second 6 weeks of the study.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Telephone Reminiscence Intervention

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Participants will receive automatic calls three times a week asking their life experiences and personal memories. They can share as much or as little as they would like. They have up to 10 minutes to record their answer and can end the call at any time by hanging up.They will be able to share the stories online with their families if they want.

Interventions

Telephone Reminiscence Intervention

Participants will receive automatic calls three times a week asking their life experiences and personal memories. They can share as much or as little as they would like. They have up to 10 minutes to record their answer and can end the call at any time by hanging up.They will be able to share the stories online with their families if they want.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Adults age >60 years;
• English speaking
• Community-dwelling
• Willing to participate in a 12 week study
• Willing and able to share memories using a telephone, 10 minutes, 3 times a week

Exclusion Criteria

• Significant hearing loss
• Cognitive impairment

• Minimum Eligible Age: 60 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

StoriiCare Company

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Connecticut

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Juliette Shellman

Associate Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

University of Connecticut

Storrs, Connecticut, United States

Countries

United States

References

Keyes CL. The mental health continuum: from languishing to flourishing in life. J Health Soc Behav. 2002 Jun;43(2):207-22.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 12096700 (View on PubMed)

Diener E, Emmons RA, Larsen RJ, Griffin S. The Satisfaction With Life Scale. J Pers Assess. 1985 Feb;49(1):71-5. doi: 10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 16367493 (View on PubMed)

Russell DW. UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3): reliability, validity, and factor structure. J Pers Assess. 1996 Feb;66(1):20-40. doi: 10.1207/s15327752jpa6601_2.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 8576833 (View on PubMed)

Shellman JM, Zhang D. Psychometric testing of the Modified Reminiscence Functions Scale. J Nurs Meas. 2014;22(3):500-10. doi: 10.1891/1061-3749.22.3.500.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 25608435 (View on PubMed)

Cudjoe TKM, Roth DL, Szanton SL, Wolff JL, Boyd CM, Thorpe RJ. The Epidemiology of Social Isolation: National Health and Aging Trends Study. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2020 Jan 1;75(1):107-113. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gby037.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 29590462 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

H23-0046

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id